Thursday, November 8, 2012

Living In Colour

I've been painting again. Seems once I start I can't stop...may need saving from myself.

This weeks project (or to be more precise last weekends project) was this wardrobe purchased on eBay a few months back.

It is a 1930's wardrobe from a deceased estate. Saint Mike had to hire a ute to go and collect out one Sunday morning. It weighs a ton! When both doors are open it has a nasty habit of tipping forward onto unsuspecting passerbys so there will need to be some serious tethering I suspect to keep it from being a hazard.

Nothing like trying to instill a sense of orderliness in the KATs and then having the hazard of falling wardrobes to discourage any initiative.

Anyhoo, it was a purchase designed to provide a home for a variety of paraphernalia that otherwise would be shunted from room to room and hanging from doors in this house of never enough storage.

As you can see, it also houses the vacuum and scans of my injured arm/wrist:)

She'd already been given a dousing in antiseptic when we first received her so all that was required was a light sand using my palm sander and a light grade sanding pad. I wiped her over with a damp cloth to remove the dust and then got into the undercoating.

Saint Mike was at work when this commenced, hence I was able to adopt my haphazard approach of not completely emptying her before getting started....nothing like a rushed job is there:)

I'd been considering what colour to paint her. Initially I was going down the grey or greige route....one step beyond bland old white (no offence to anyone that likes white).

Maybe it was my week of throwing caution to the wind but I decided to follow this fearless approach and chose to paint her a rather alarming (to some) but stimulating (to me) shad of blue. It's a colour from the Murobond range of paints and is called "Pre-Loved". It is an apt name for the item as I'm sure this wardrobe has some stories to tell.

In this shot it looks like a duck egg blue....in actual fact it's really more a robin's egg blue (or Tiffany Blue if you prefer)

I am quite proud of the patience I displayed as I managed to slap on about three coats of the blue and have nary a streak to my name!!

I also painted the interior of the lower (hanging) section, undercoated and then a couple of coats of Dulux Natural White to provide a nice contrast. Last thing was to trim up some of my wallpaper remnants for the base and upper shelf. Note the strategically positioned wooden box (that contains Saint Mikes coin collection) to stop the thing from tipping over on me:)

I used some letter stickers to adorn the plastic tubs that hold various craft/paint supplies and they are now out of the reach of the KATs which means I get to control when we actually do craft...as opposed to it being a free for all!

I realize this bright burst of colour would not be to everyones taste but thankfully Saint Mike and the KATs are used to living with a mummy who's never seen a colour she can't embrace and are totally enamoured with my choice (or so they say).

In the end I decided to leave the top interior section as it was (except for the wallpaper on the shelf). I like the idea of seeing the natural state every time I open the door to remind me that she has a history and it doesn't need to be completely covered up:)

So there you have it!

What next you ask? Well, I need to choose between making over a curbside collection bookshelf or a Vinnies trolley that I got to hold the printer. One is going to be spraypainted bright yellow...the other is potentially going to be the same orange as the front door..........................................